No. 97 The Simorgh restores Zal to Sam

Ferdowsi, Shahnameh
Mughal Sub-imperial style, c.1600

Opaque watercolour, ink and gold
on
paper

London, Royal Asiatic Society, Persian MS 241, fol. 49r

As in
No. 45,
the Simorgh has nurtured the albino child, Zal,
that
his father, Sam, abandoned on the mountain. Here, the Simorgh has
already delivered Zal and Sam is contemplating him joyfully. Zal is
fully clothed in princely garments and Sam wears a pyramidal cap
whose split brim is swept up and held by swathes of turban, a
headdress closely associated with the emperor Homayun (1530–1540 and
1555–1556). The picture may allude to the restoration of Akbar to his
father Homayun after the re-conquest of Kabul in 1544. The special
significance of this image is supported by the fact that it is the
only one with a golden sky in the entire
manuscript.